By now I hope you have figured out this isn’t serious.  It isn’t, but could it be?  Maybe not in time for this campaign, but what about in 2012.  Could the internet begin a groundswell write in campaign and change the face of politics?

Could we elect a candidate without the help of political parties?  And if we could, would it be my friend Jim Brown?

  I should be working right now, but playing this silly game is much more fun.

And photoshoping myself into the Bean Cup may be the only way I can get there any time soon!

You can be Doug Karr’s Friend Too! -Game Rules Can be Found on BNPositives Blog

And if you play, don’t forget to link to Doug Karr’s site as well.

I love animals, and always thought it would be cool to have one of those offices with laid back pets roaming comfortably.  And now I do.

About six months ago, my assistant, Rebecca, here at roundpeg asked if she could bring her dog Bonnie to the office while they were remodeling.  This was no small request,  Bonnie is an 85 pound Bouvier des Flanders, (For those of you not familiar with the breed, she looks more like a bear, then a dog)

Well Bonnie came, made herself at home, and we are very glad she did.  Each day when she arrives with Rebbecca, she checks out each office to see who is in, then settles down for a nap in my office. She pops up when visitors arrive, says hello and goes back to sleep.

And now we have added a Kitty!   Her name is Clyde.  ( Get it Bonnie and Clyde) At 2 pounds she already rules the roost, terrorizes the dog, and makes her home on desks and laps.   Although distracting, she certainly livens things up, makes people laugh and look forward to coming to the office.

Next, I think we need a bird!

I believe in the power of social networks. As a consultant, I rely on various networks and blogs for information and as a place to post new content. I am on Twitter, Brightkite, Facebook, LinkedIN, Plaxo, Smaller Indiana, and LetsMakeitRain.

I try to post regularly, and follow comments and new posts by friends and associates. I also post content on my own blogs: Business Notes From Roundpeg, www.Lorraine Ball.com, www.Indy-Biz.com and www.866MyNyBiz.com and on several lenses on Squidoo. Keeping the content fresh is hard enough, finding time to log in and read all the content is overwhelming …

Then along comes FriendFeed – and life just got simpler! While I still need to post content on sites indidually, I can catch up on everyone I am following all in one place, post comments and read what others have to say. I haven’t used it long, but I think I am going to be a FriendFeed Fan.

Thanks to Kyle Lacy for pointing me in this direction.

I stopped at a gas station early one morning on my way to a meeting. As I was giving away a piece of my children’s inheritance at the pump I made eye contact with  a man across the way doing exactly the same thing.

With a brief nod, he said quietly, without much enthusiasm: “Hey, how you doing?”

I relied as I always do, “Just great, thanks so much for asking, and how about you?”  I could tell he thought  my upbeat tone, and overall enthusiasm was a bit over the top, and if he had a choice, he would have backed away.  But he was still connected to the gas pump, so he felt compelled to reply.

“Oh,” he said with a sigh. “It is going to be a long day.  I have so much to do, and I am just not ready for it”

Before he could continue, I interrupted him.  “That’s not working for me,” I said. I could tell he was surprised by my tone, my interruption, and again he looked longingly at the exit.  But he was stuck, so I continued.

“You are creating the day you are going to have,” I said.  “At this very moment, you are deciding what type of day you are going to have.  Why choose a crappy one?”

Every day, we decide what our day will be like.  Now some times life comes at you fast, and you can not control the events of the day, but you can control how you feel about.  How you let them effect you.  Your reactions are your choice.

And so tomorrow decide you will have a wonderful day.  Exciting, interesting, productive or fun.  You decide and at the end of the day, see if it turned out more or less like what you were hoping for.

And in case you are curious … they guy at the gas station drove away, smiling!

Hot Shotz Bar & Grill (96^th
& Gray), a popular hangout for avid Indianapolis networkers, especially, Rainmakers  was shut down due to a kitchen fire.  They need to raise funds
to repair the kitchen so they’re throwing a huge networking event
Thursday, July 10^th – and you’re all invited.  It is a free
event to attend.  Hot Shotz will be there offering 50% off gift cards
as a way to raise the funds they need for repairs.  Please visit their
site for details: http://hotshotzpub.com/

This from my friend Brett Healy, about an event he is hosting at the end of the month!

Happy Independence Day, Confluence Registrants! -We’re very excited to inform you that 124 registrations are in, and the event is growing daily. Our workshops are jammed packed, and we had to stop accepting any new workshop attendees.

We will likely close registration when we hit 200 attendees at this event to make sure there is plenty of room to network.

We are allowing a small number of table-top exhibitors for a nominal fee, email me if you need details.

The fastest-growing Indianapolis networking channel is Rainmakers.  If you like events that are fun, lively, high-energy, and packed with well connected networkers check out: www.gorainmakers.com.

A great resource for small business and networkers alike… Check out Lorraine Ball’s RoundPeg: http://www.roundpeg.biz/ and subscribe to her email list and calendar of Indy events.

Ladies all over the world are tapping into Linda Rendelman’s Business Women Connect: http://www.businesswomenconnect.com/

If you’re tech-savvy you should know of: http://www.techpoint.org/Pages/TechpointHome.aspx

And, of course the all-suite Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce: http://www.indychamber.com/

Finally, if you like contributing your thoughts to folks that listen and respond check out: http://www.smallerindiana.com/